Every ditch is different: Barriers and opportunities for collaboration for agricultural water conservation and security in the Colorado River Basin

Taylor, Peter Leigh; MacIlroy, Kelsea; Waskom, R.; Cabot, Perry E.; Smith, Malcolm; Schempp, Adam; Udall, B.

doi:10.2489/jswc.74.3.281

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Relationships among 20th century water communities and their organizations developed in dynamic ways. By the late 19th century, local irrigators established mutual ditch companies (quasi-private not-for-profit organizations) to secure water rights, finance irrigation works, and maintain those systems (Taylor et al, 2019). Maass and Anderson (1978) compare the socio-economic performance of six Spanish and western US irrigation communities, stressing the importance of water rights markets and local community vis-à-vis governmental control.…”

Section: Th Century and Contemporary Water Communities And Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional levels of water management in the Colorado River basin region: A macro-historical geographic review

Wescoat

2023

Front. Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Complex water-stressed basins like the Colorado River in North America have multiple institutional levels of water management. Each institutional level is characterized by rules, organizations, and spatial jurisdictions that developed over decades to centuries to shape a dynamic multi-level system. After introducing the concept of institutional levels, and its relationship to geographic scales, this paper employs systematic bibliographic search methods to review their development in the Colorado River basin region. Results begin with the community level of water management from prehistoric Indian water cultures to early Hispanic water communities, 19th century water communities, and 20th century water organizations. Conflict among water communities shaped the state level of constitutional authority over water rights administration during the 19th century. Competition among states led in the 20th century to the interstate level of apportionment that often paralleled federal and tribal level water development policies, eventually leading to the international level of treaty relations between the U.S. and Mexico. This macro-historical geographic progression from institutions that were relatively small in size and early in time to those at higher levels and more recent in time offers insights into the multi-level institutional logic of the “law of the river” in the Colorado River basin region.

show abstract

Section: Th Century and Contemporary Water Communities And Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional levels of water management in the Colorado River basin region: A macro-historical geographic review

Wescoat

2023

Front. Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The “Owens Valley Effect” exemplifies how the permanent transfer of water from a ranching and farming community, like Owens Valley to Los Angeles, can destroy livelihoods and ecosystems (McMahon and Smith ; Reisner ; Summitt ). There is tremendous concern for the rural economies and communities from which water is transferred, and the case of Crowley County, Colorado, illustrates how water transfers can fundamentally shift livelihoods in agricultural communities as they “buy and dry” (Howitt and Hanak ; Pritchett, Thorvaldson, and Frasier ; Taylor and MacIlroy ). Evidence suggests that in spite of short‐term financial benefits of water transfers, rural economies suffer in the long term due to loss of farm productivity, loss of local population, increases in weedy infestations, and poor soil health (Howe and Goemans ; Howe, Lazo, and Weber ; LAVWCD ; Squillace ; Taylor, Young, and McKean ).…”

Section: Environmental Justice Water Commodification and Market Tramentioning

confidence: 99%

Like Oil and Water in the American West: Water Market Access amid Unconventional Oil Production in Colorado

Malin

MacIlroy

2018

Rural Sociology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Characterized as a “wicked” problem, water shortage in the American West will soon become a reality—due to increasing population, climate change, and decreased flows. Concurrently, water‐centered technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling have facilitated the rapid and widespread growth of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) production in the United States. Water markets are increasingly touted as the best, most efficient, and fairest mechanisms for allocating vital and scarce resources. Yet this contention is largely unexplored at the food‐energy‐water nexus, particularly from an environmental justice perspective—where equitable water access for all users is a central concern. We utilize a case study in Colorado's South Platte basin based on 41 in‐depth interviews to show: (1) distortions created in regional water markets as wealthy UOG operators participate in them and (2) ways in which access to water markets becomes blocked for smaller, newer, or water‐poor water users. We also highlight how UOG producers’ presence may inhibit the formation of alternative systems for water exchange. Thus, the participation of UOG operators in Colorado's water markets appears to drive environmental injustice and increased inequity at the food‐energy‐water nexus, rather than facilitating fair or efficient access to water for all users.

show abstract

“…It is also a highly regulated basin for hydropower and distribution, with large dams constructed throughout so that the basin's total artificial storage capability now exceeds four times its annual flow (Garrick, 2017). Between 70% to 80% of the basin's water in the U.S. is allocated for agriculture, with the balance being used for municipal, industrial, recreational, and other uses (Taylor et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When the water runs dry: supporting adaptive governance in transboundary river basins

Blumstein

Petersen‐Perlman

2021

Water International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Impacts of global climate change will primarily be felt through the water cycle. Adaptation to changing conditions in transboundary basins is an important precondition to ensure regional sustainable development and political stability. However, adaptation measures in one basin country can affect water resources and adaptation options elsewhere, therefore often requiring coordinated or joint responses by riparian countries. The paper examines the potential of climate policy instruments in strengthening adaptation to changes in transboundary river basins in North America's Colorado River Basin and Southern Africa's Orange-Senqu River Basin. It finds that climate policy instruments are yet rarely employed to jointly manage adaptation in shared rivers but nonetheless harbour great potential.

show abstract

Every ditch is different: Barriers and opportunities for collaboration for agricultural water conservation and security in the Colorado River Basin

Cited by 6 publications

References 15 publications

Institutional levels of water management in the Colorado River basin region: A macro-historical geographic review

Institutional levels of water management in the Colorado River basin region: A macro-historical geographic review

Like Oil and Water in the American West: Water Market Access amid Unconventional Oil Production in Colorado

When the water runs dry: supporting adaptive governance in transboundary river basins

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About